1. Field of the Disclosure
This disclosure relates generally to apparatus and methods for Access Point (AP) selection made by a Station (STA), such as a cellular telephone, in a wireless network. More particularly, the disclosure relates to an apparatus and method for providing low overhead end-to-end Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) Access Point (AP) selection.
2. Related Art
WiFi offloading is becoming increasingly important as cellular networks become congested. With thousands of APs available for providing wireless hotspots, AP selection is becoming an important feature that will be utilized continuously for a mobile user. In conventional systems, the STA, which can be a cellular telephone for example, performs AP selection based on analysis of a wireless link to various APs near the STA. However, the wireless link between the STA and the AP is only one portion of a communication channel between a source device (e.g., the STA) and a destination device (e.g., another STA on the WLAN network).
In conventional methods and systems, a STA obtains backhaul information by probing one or a set of predefined servers for relevant data (e.g., round-trip time, bandwidth, etc.). However, this causes increased contention and power drain for the STA, which is typically a mobile device, because each STA must perform independent high overhead measurements to determine the best AP to connect to.